Sussex Co. COVID Vaccine Update: Inoculation Goals 'Achievable'

SUSSEX COUNTY, NJ - This week, New Jersey decided to temporarily pause the administration of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine upon the recommendation of the CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration pending further investigation into six reported instances of severe blood clots. But Governor Phil Murphy said the Garden State can still hit the vaccine goals set.

"To be sure, these six cases each appear to be extremely rare," Murphy said. "In New Jersey, where we had administered just over 244,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine prior to hitting pause, no similar adverse effects have been reported."

But Murphy noted that even with this pause, the overall goal of vaccinating 4.7 million adult New Jerseyans by the end of June remains in place and entirely achievable.

"As of today, doses of Johnson & Johnson have accounted for only 4 percent of the more than 5.6 million total vaccine doses administered in New Jersey," Murphy said.

Last week, officials unveiled a vaccine tracker to keep current on how many full vaccinated residents are in New Jersey and more people are eligible than ever before.

As of April 5, here is the list of who is eligible to book vaccine appointments:

• Food production, agriculture and food distribution (including grocery store and restaurant workers)
• Eldercare and support
• Warehousing and logistics
• Social services support staff
• Elections personnel
• Hospitality
• Medical supply chain
• Postal and shipping services
• Clergy
• Judicial system
• Paid and unpaid healthcare workers
• Residents and workers of long-term care and high-risk congregate care facilities
• First responders including sworn law enforcement and fire professionals
• Individuals aged over 65
• Individuals aged 16-64 that have certain medical conditions that increase the risk of severe illness from the virus
• Pre-K to 12 educators and staff
• Childcare workers in licensed and registered settings
• Transportation workers
• Additional high-risk individuals
• Additional public safety workers
• Individuals 55 and over
• Individuals ages 16 and up with intellectual and developmental disabilities
• Educators, including support staff, in higher education settings
• Communications infrastructure support, including engineers, and technicians and members of the press
• Real estate, building, and home service workers, including construction workers, code officials, plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians, property management and maintenance workers
• Retail financial institution workers, including bank tellers, lending services, public accounting and check-cashing workers
• Sanitation workers providing disinfection and janitorial services, city sanitation workers; residential, commercial, and industrial solid and hazardous waste removal workers
• Laundry service workers, including those working in laundromats, laundry services and dry cleaners
• Utility workers including electrical generation and supply system, natural gas delivery, nuclear power plant, water supply, telephone and cable/fiber/optical/broadband/cellular service workers
• Librarians and support staff at municipal, county and state libraries

Here are the sites available in Sussex County as listed by the New Jersey:

Newton Medical Center - Romano Conference Center
175 High Street Newton
The website

ShopRite Pharmacy of Byram

90-80 route 206
Stanhope, NJ 07874
(973) 448-2902

ShopRite Pharmacy of Newton

125 Water St RT 206
Newton, NJ 07860
(973) 579-1119

ShopRite Pharmacy #291 Franklin

• The website

ShopRite Pharmacy #283 Sparta

• The website

CVS, Stanhope

• CVS app or cvs.com

CVS, Vernon

• CVS app or cvs.com

Rite Aid Store 10408, Hamburg

• riteaid.com/pharmacy/covid-qualifier

Weis Markets #143, Newton

• weismarkets.com/pharmacy-services

Weis Markets #147, Franklin

• weismarkets.com/pharmacy-services

Sussex County Department of Health & Human Services

Other Ways To Find Appointments

Patch has gathered tips that may help for securing vaccine appointments and websites with additional information:

• Join the New Jersey Covid Vaccine Info Facebook group. The group gives New Jerseyans the opportunity to share up-to-date information on vaccine availability.
• Follow VaxxUpdates on Twitter. The page helps Garden State residents secure vaccine appointments with instant updates on availability.
• CVS and Rite Aid began scheduling COVID-19 appointments at locations that will receive vaccines. But appointments fill up quickly. CVS, Rite Aid and Walmart have expanded their number of sites. Read more: CVS Adding 30 COVID-19 Vaccine Sites In New Jersey
• CentraState Healthcare System in Freehold periodically opens registration. They will email a link when you're eligible for an appointment.
• Check out the COVID-19 Vaccine Registration FAQ from RWJBarnabas Health.
You can sign up at their website to be alerted when the vaccine becomes available in your area.
• ShopRite sometimes has a wait time to access its vaccine scheduler, but it allows the public to make appointments.
• New Jersey opened up its own COVID-19 Vaccine Appointment Finder. The beta version is available now, but officials say it will improve and become more useful as supply creeps up to meet demand.

For more vaccine information, visit our New Jersey COVID-19 Vaccination Hub.

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